A New Hope

Or maybe I should title this The Next Generation!

...nah, wrong IP.

 A funny thing happened a few moments ago when my sixteen year old stepson asked me about the Edge of the Empire book, and if I picked up the core rulebook at some point.  (Mind you, I've had it since July, but it's mostly been living in my laptop bag.)  With a wary don't-ruin-my-stuff look and matching tone to not ruin my stuff, I dug out the book and handed it over.  He gingerly sat down on the couch and started flipping through the 400-page text.  Occasionally, he's made comments and observations that I'm well versed with ("Wow, droids get 175 xp to start with!" "Can anyone be Force Sensitive?" "It's neat how everyone has to have an obligation.").

What strikes me as odd, and I suppose it shouldn't, is that he is starting to take a real interest in the RPG.  He's flipped through others in the past, mostly Mutants and Masterminds books.  I ran him as a PC the first time I played through the EotE Beginner's Module, "Escape from Mos Shutta".  There he played the rampaging wookie, and was always trying to smash foes with tables, street lights, benches, other enemies, and pretty much anything other than the devastating vibro-axe the wookie comes equipped with.  I found this to be acceptable, and typical for a sixteen year old who's main interests are Madden 25, Call of Duty, and high school Football.

This is the same stepson who I introduced to the Star Wars saga at age seven (with his mother's permission, of course).  He loved the saga, enjoyed the ewoks, and even found Jar-Jar funny.  Frikkin George Lucas was right about that character; the kids loved him.  Since then he's played with Star Wars legos, a few figures, and dabbled a little bit in Star Wars costuming for a few Halloweens (kid made a great padawan Anakin for a few years there).

"This is going to take a lot of work..."

He even is interested in joining the Legions in a couple years.  He's got a costume in mind, even made a decent Halloween outfit for him several years back.  He's thinking he'd like to re-do it and "go pro".  I've made a promise to him that if he has the motivation, and he works on it, I'll not only help him make a great looking Cade Skywalker, but I'll buy the parts and make his lightsaber for him as a reward. 

Kinda surprised he wasn't interested in Jacen Solo, until I realized there are many more images of Cade looking badass, and many more instances of Jacen being a douche.

Anyway, back to gaming; I suppose the next step is to actually get him into a recurring game.  While I have my Wild Card game starting up soon, that's going to be on a weeknight and probably run until 10pm.  He's got an early bedtime, so that won't work for him  (his mom keeps him on a short leash, prevents him from being an uppity snot.  It's called "parenting".)

I do have a hankering to convert over some of the old West End Games modules and run them with Age of Rebellion rules.  Not only will this get him into a game, but it'll also get me playing with X-Wings again.  There's a lot to be said for the classic era.

Somethings Gotta Give

I've noticed my posts have become fewer and farther between, and when I do post I'm tending for them to be brief snippets, and not these longer, more interesting pieces.  I'm kinda in a bit of a slump, on multiple levels.  As I mentioned in my last post, it's one of the reasons I'm starting up the Wild Cards campaign, I need something to break this slump I'm in.

Here's hoping it works out.

"SQUIRREL!"

Determined to get this blog back on track, I'm back with another Update Thursday!  I've been pretty scatterbrained lately, and I blame a giant heaping ball of stress that's taken over my life right now.  Sadly this monstrous anxiety ball has crept it's soul-sucking tendrils into many aspects of my life; marriage, creativity, work, attention span.

Yes, attention span. Right now I've got the focus of a 2 year old golden retriever after eating an entire bag of pixie sticks in a forest full of grey squirrels who have also eaten entire bags of pixie sticks.  I'm trying OH SO TRYING to get focus to do anything.  I'm forcing myself to get the first leg of my next Star Wars campaign off the ground.  Trying to get some practice and learn a thing or two about being a Tanker in Mechwarrior Online.  Trying not to mash up the Edge of the Empire system into a Mechwarrior campaign.

...squirrel!

Opening Hands

The first part of getting out of Funkytown is getting a regular campaign under my belt.  The start of my Another Longshot campaign has been a subject in this blog for well over a year now.  I remember I was going to do updates to catalog the creation of my campaign, developing NPCs, locations, modules, set-pieces, and scenarios.  Well, that good intention fell by the wayside.

...I also just spent 5 minutes right now browsing the D20 Radio boards, and can't remember why I went there...

Where was I...oh, right.  Another Longshot, and more specifically getting another campaign going.  I need another bi-weekly game.  The last one I ran, Brothers In Arms, kept me focused.  It forced me to sit down and create for a game every other week, and let to some real good game sessions and experiences with my friends.

I need that again.  So, why not start it?

Just like my last weeknight game, I've got a mostly new group of PCs.  The PCs are all former members of an Imperial Stormtrooper Special Forces team during the Legacy Era.  They were framed for and convicted of a crime they didn't commit.   Still loyal to the true Emperor, but wanted by the ruling government, they survive in the Outer Rim as soldiers of fortune.  They are known as the "Wild Cards", because calling them the Aurek-Team would have been too blatant...

They're the prelude to Another Longshot.  It's also probable they may be the start of the Imperial segment of the campaign.  I'm in the character development stage, and hope to have my first weeknight session over Roll/20 the first week of October.

Squirrel!

Gah, sorry.  My mind doesn't want to write anymore it seems.  Probably best to cut this short for a week, and try again next week.  Maybe I'll be in a better state of mind.